The Proceedings of the Joseph Howe Symposium ed. by Wayne A. Hunt (review)

REVIEWS 113 LikeCreighton,andmostotherbiographers, Beeradoptsa chronological formatasthestructurebestsuitedfor the tellingof hisstory.While thishas obvious advantages, it tendsto precludethe systematic analysis of particular aspects of theman'sactivities. It tendstoencourage theinterplayof character and circumstances and to downplaythe investigation of behaviourand structure.As the philosopherof historyMaurice Mandelbaumlong ago pointedout,a partsto the wholeapproachispossible. Brian Young's recent analytical treatment ofCartier's life,wherehedeals witheachimportant sector separately whileatthesame timeexplicitly relatingthepartstoacentraltheme, stands asanexcellent example ofthefeasibility ofthisparticular mode.Explicit attentionto theoryand conceptinformsYoung's interpretationof Cartier's life. By contrast, Beeroptsfor thecharacter andcircumstance modelashis central explanatory vehicle. Ironically, byseparating outanddealing systematically witheach important sector ofMacNab's life,Beerwould have confronted in a starkform the relativelackof an integratedinterpretation.In the end Beerfallsjust shortof transcending the traditionalCreightonian framework for thewritingof Canadian historical biography. Perhaps, hisnextworkwill free him from those bonds forever. PETER BASKERVILLE University ofVictoria TheProceedings of theJoseph HoweSymposium. Edited by WAYNE A. HUNT. Published for the Centrefor CanadianStudies,Mount AlisonUniversity,by NimbusPublishing, Halifax 1984 J. MurrayBeck's recendypublished two-volume biography ofJosephHowe (Kingston and Montreal:McGill-Queen's UniversityPress,1982and 1983) markstheculmination of alifetimeof scholarship. MountAllisonUniversity's Centrefor Canadian Studies contributed tothebooming Howeindustry with thisinterdisciplinary symposium, held to mark the publication of Beck's secondvolume.Beck'sown keynoteaddressreaffirmed his now familiar paradigmregardingHowe'stransitionfrom Conservative to Liberal.There canbelittlequestion regarding theforceofBeck's position onthisquestion, but one looks in vain for innovation or redefinition of the roots of Howe's transformation. Otheressays in the volumerelateto otheraspects of Howe'sexperience. Religion andcollege education are ablytreatedbyBarryMoody,whoargues that Halifax'smetropolitanBaptistsdeliberatelyentrappedHowe into a compromising position on the AcadiaCollegefundingquestion, leadingto untoldpoliticalgrief. W.B. Hamilton asserts a consistent strainin Howe's espousal of universality in education.He wasdeniedsuccess by the political uncertainty whichfrustrated hisinnovative proposals, butpavedthewayfor hisnemesis CharlesTupper'ssuccessful freeschool actsof the 186os. 114 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW DavidSutherland remindsusthat Howewasasmucha Haligonianasa NovaScotian; thathispersistent Halifax'Boosting' wasverymuchpartof his life asa publicist. Howe'sliteraryandpublishing venturesare the subject of essays byM.G.Parks andGeorge L. Parker.Parks looks totheoutputofNova Scotia cultureduring Howe'searlyyearsandarguesforcefullyfor considerationof hiscommitment to thepromotionof a uniqueNovaScotian culture, whiledetermined to expose hiscommunity to the widestrangeof popular Britishandcolonial writingviathepages of theNovaScotian andelsewhere. Parker addresses thequestion ofHowe's roleinthedistribution ofbooks, both throughpublication of localauthors andthedistribution of foreignauthors' works. Allthese essays treadmoreorless familiarterritorytothose versed inNova Scotia's recenthistoriography. While most managea cavil or two, none seriously challenges Beck'swork. G.A. Rawlyk's concluding essay offersa summation and evaluation of Beck's two volumes. He invited Beck to elaborate onhispersonal discovery of Howeandquotes liberallyfromtheresponse on themakingof abiographer. Generally laudatory towards thebodyof Beck's work,Rawlyk goes ontosuggest thatinsights fromsuch ideologues asAntonio Gramsci andpsycho-biographer E.H. Eriksonmighthaveresulted in amuch differentproduct.ViewingHoweastheembodiment of an assertive middle class emergingto lead Nova Scotiainto the secondhalf of the nineteenth centuryisan attractivenotion;just asishislinking of Erikson'sideasabout identityandcrisisto the shapingof Howe'sideology.In the end, though, RawlykdefendsBeck'sbiographyin glowingtermswith a pleafor more informedscholarship on the generalNova Scotiamilieu beforefurther attempts aremadeto assess Howe's rolein thecommunity. Thoseseeking a moresearching review ofthebroader determinants ofsuch anapproach might looktotheextended reviewof Beck's biography byPhilBuckner, Acadiensis (fall •984). •).a.MUISE Carleton University TheManfromHalifax:SirJohnThompson, Prime Minister. I,.B.WAITE. Toronto: University ofTorontoPress •985. Pp.xxix,547.$37.5 ø Peter Waite's ManfromHalifax,thefirstpublished scholarly study ofCanada's fourthprimeminister, ismorethananaccount ofJ.S.D.Thompson's years in federal politics, •885-94. It isacomprehensive examination ofthefamily, life, work,and timesof Thompson,the lawyer,municipalpolitician,attorneygeneral , premierofhisprovince, andjudge.It isalso something ofabiography of AnnieAffleck,Thompson's shrewd, intelligent, andambitious wife,who withBishop Cameronof Antigonish exercised greatinfluence uponThomp- ...